4.05 Mirror Mirror

I really enjoyed this one. First off, there was a decent amount of Wilson (four scenes? We've been so well conditioned). And I adored that he wears the pants. And he called it a 'relationship', not just 'friendship'. This brought back my Foreman love. Foreman was my favorite duckling for the first two and a half seasons before Chase usurped that position. I honestly can't bring myself to hate him. (Is it bad on my part that my two least favorite characters are the Cuddy, Cameron, and 13?) But I was kind of annoyed at him for the past couple episodes. Then... the last couple scenes made me so happy. House's dance at the end was hilarious, sent me and my brother (who actually watched most of the episode and enjoyed it, despite 'hating that pill-popping bastard') into peals of laughter. The Foreman/Wilson interaction was great, too. What kinda pissed me off was that mention of Cuddy on birth control. I yelled at the writers. Right now I'm thinking that she really took what House said in 3.09 to heart and stopped trying. Which, while I wasn't looking forward to Cuddy!spawn, is kinda sad. He really does have control over her. And the laxatives... meh, I didn't really care, but I did like that Wilson came in to stop her ('Don't you knock?'). Also, the level of Cameron was good. Level of Chase needs to be HIGHER, ptb. Need more Jesse. Count me among those who wanted to see House and Chase make that bet. So, in all, I really enjoyed the episode. Five in and there aren't any that I wouldn't watch again. Season's doing very well, IMO.

I liked this episode and thought it was a nice "looking glass" exploration of House and how he is reflected in each of the remaining candidates (except for Cole). I also thought it was another in a series of too-light episodes. The meaning and depth is there, it's just buried a little deep. I'm still waiting five episodes in for scene to leave me breathless, holding on to the edge of my seat and hurrying up the commercials to come back from break. I do get that House is happier engaged and interacting with people (especially people with whom he hasn't yet the stress of knowing well at this point), but I miss the brooding, the quiet moment and the knock my socks off range that the first three seasons allowed us to observe in the character (and Hugh's acting). House is a bit too happy (is he still on ADs?) and I'm ready for things to settle down again.

It took me a while to realize that the reason 13 wanted to go with Cole was because she didn't want to be mirrored, when they were offscreen, I kind of forgot about them. That's how I am with all these new people. If they're not on the screen, I forget they exist. I didn't even think about Really Old Fraud or the twins or the vet the entire episode. I didn't think about 13 or Cole while they were gone. I don't wonder what Kumar or Plastic Surgeon are up to if they're not on the screen. Every time Brennen comes on screen I'm surprised becuase he's SO forgetable that I have to think "Who the hell is that?" The thing I realized about Foreman is this--even as much as he can annoy me, I still prefer him to ANY of the new group. I just want these new people to *go away.* At least when House and Foreman were interacting, it felt almost like the show that I've enjoyed for a long time instead of some alternate universe.

I was thinking about the BCP. Apparently Cuddy is taking them, but how does House know this? Would he not assume, like so many of us here, that she is still trying to conceive? . He monitors her cycles. The whole diatribe about how she gets weepy on the cancer wards, and then forgoes her ban on sugar, and chows down on a bucket of frozen yogurt, with sprinkles? While a bit creepy, and depreciating towards women one might say, it is a smart move on House's part. He knows when she is going to be most willing to agree to one of his insane ideas, and at what point he knows to probably stay away from her. :lol: I'm assuming there will be further exploration on this seemingly throw away comment later, but from everything we've seen on screen, House should still assume that Cuddy is trying to get pregnant, not prevent pregnancy. He doesn't know that she actually did get pregnant and miscarried. From an audience perspective, it seems acceptable that Cuddy would have stopped trying, particularly as she was translating her physical problems into second guessing her real desire for motherhood, but House doesn't know that. Until it's explained otherwise, it's kind of bizarre that House would even think that she's on birth control. Given her crazy hormonal outbursts last season, he should assume, if anything, that she's still pumping herself full of estrogen.

I was thinking about the BCP. Apparently Cuddy is taking them, but how does House know this? Would he not assume, like so many of us here, that she is still trying to conceive? . He monitors her cycles. The whole diatribe about how she gets weepy on the cancer wards, and then forgoes her ban on sugar, and chows down on a bucket of frozen yogurt, with sprinkles? While a bit creepy, and depreciating towards women one might say, it is a smart move on House's part. He knows when she is going to be most willing to agree to one of his insane ideas, and at what point he knows to probably stay away from her. :lol: Being House, I'm not sure the monitoring started out as intentional. He noticed that she got teary and it happened before. And she ate yogurt with sprinkles and it happened before. Putting together patterns is what House does. And once he noticed it, he'd be a fool to ignore it. But that still doesn't explain how he knew she was on the pill. You get hormonal changes when you're on it, not on it and especially when you're taking fertility drugs. To me the most likely scenario is that she told him when she stopped having him inject her that she had decided that she was too old and was going back on the pill (or something like that.)

Word, amysusanne! Also, I forgot to add that I really liked this episode. I've watched it a couple of times now and it gets better each time. It's a little depressing to come here and see so many people disappointed in this season because I'm really enjoying it so far. I like the new people and how they interact with House and each other. The fact that I respect the opinions of everyone on here makes it harder. So I think I'm going to take an extended leave of the boards, or maybe just the episode threads, for a while. I've enjoyed some of the analysis, but just watching the show will be enough for me. I like this season also glad to hear I am not the only one

I just love that Chase was in with House. That's about 25 hunderd dollars each. :D It made me laugh.

I liked this episode so much more than I was expecting to and I laughed out loud at many points. I loved that each of the mirroring scenes with the POTW offered us an important shard of the puzzle that is House, but since each candidate was alone no one but the audience got to piece it all together: --Amber said, through the Mirror, "If they don't like you, you gotta be right or you're not worth anything." This is almost a direct quote from House's baraku introspection story in "Son of a Coma Guy." And what a strikingly poignant self-analysis for both House and Amber. --Taub learned through the Mirror that "she's a little too aggressive for me, but aggressive is never a bad thing, yeah!" I interpreted that to be an indirect reference to Cuddy (and even Stacy) and how House feels about her. --Brennan's glimpse into the Mirror revealed several traits that directly reflect what we know about House: "I'm bored," a condition House relieves through various antics including latching onto the most esoteric of diagnoses. "You think everything is OK as long as you don't think about it; ignore it." Then when he thought he had extracted the exotic black pus: "So cool!" As Foreman noted later, Brennan, like House saw what he wanted to see and is ever-enchanted with the far out and exotic (remember the botched diagnosis of Lupe in "House Training). --Kutner was an extension of House's eternal search for the "cool." As the Mirror said for Kutner, "I gotta have new, if its not there I make it there! There are 300 million people in this country, if I'm doing exactly what everyone else is doing, then who the hell am I, ya know what I mean?" This is House to perfection! --Thirteen: "I'm scared." It's going to be OK, she tries to comfort herself. "No, no, it's not!" This was the most searing and moving insight into both her character and House's. I think that both of them are scared as they contemplate their futures and are overwhelmed with a deepening despair at the gloom they face. I completely enjoyed all of House's interactions with Foreman. As usual, we learn so much about House and who he is from their complicated relationship. As the Mirror said, reflecting Foreman: "Nothing around here works the way it's supposed to work. It was necessary and that was all that mattered. It's exciting." You're happy, the Mirror says. "Why wouldn't I be?" Foreman replies. And thus everything clicks into place for Foreman and he is changed. House senses this transformation in the final scene and welcomes the Prodigal Son Foreman home with the ultimate Houseian approbation: "You are the only one who learned something. You are a freak!" House sees himself to be a freak, as we know from MLC and many other episodes and now he enfolds a no-longer resistant Foreman under this rare and cherished title. Cuddy was funny, desperate, childish, adamant, and manipulative, and as always one step behind House. How juvenile to think that switching his Vicodin for laxative would make any change. In fact, I think that House enjoyed the battle precisely because it got sillier and sillier. What to make of House's threat to sabotage Cuddy's birth control pills? How does he know she is taking them? How does he know where she keeps them? How does he have access to them? Why does she take his threat seriously? And why mention the possibility of Cuddy getting pregnant to Foreman? Foreman's reply, "What does you having sex have to do...?" is cut off at a tantalizing point by House. So inquiring minds want to know: have Cuddy and House already hit the sack and we have just been left out of the fun? I loved the fun scenes with Wilson as always: the one-ups-manship, the affection, the understanding, the references to House's need to impress Cuddy were all great. Wilson seemed so proud to believe that he has the upperhand in their relationship! House holding the door (the way a well-brought up traditional gentleman holds it for a lady) was perfection. I absolutely held my breath through that gorgeous scene in which House confronted the Mirror with a reflection of the lost man's own personality. Hugh is truly superb in that scene. Of course the crucial side result of House's acting job here is that we never get a scene in which the Mirror interacts directly with House himself -- a good bit of deflecting again by the Master of Misdirection. I think that one of the grand themes of this show is the assertion that we can get a glimpse at understanding a person by knowing whom they love and why. With House we have discovered that he is eccentric, unpredictable, adamant, and surprisingly forgiving in his choices: --Fans hated Stacy as an aggressive, manipulative selfish b*tch, but House loved her; --Wilson has been roundly condemned in some quarters as a hectoring sanctimonious scold, but House loves him; -- Cuddy's many critics find her an incompetent sexpot ninny, but House loves her; -- now we see that while the viewers spew hate at Foreman for supposedly being arrogant and self-righteous, House loves him too. For me, I am always striving to uncover whatever story David Shore and Hugh Laurie want to give to us. So I think that the story of "House" is the unfolding of why House has made these bold, unconventional, and magnanimous choices. What nourishment and support to his soul do these people bring? I love your summery of this episode. I think you hit it dead on.

love your summery of this episode. I think you hit it dead on. ditto, Blacktop. So very, very well said.

Right now I'm thinking that she really took what House said in 3.09 to heart and stopped trying. While that didn't help, by that time she had miscarried at least twice (?) as she told Wilson. He doesn't know that she actually did get pregnant and miscarried. I think he did know. Remember his comments about her breasts "going in to the milking business" and even talking to her tummy? Despite her denials, House was insistent, and he is after all the man who can diagnose five patients in under a minute. I think he noticed the slight changes in her body and was able to tell when she was pregnant - later we saw her tell Wilson that she had been. And obviously she never had a baby so he put two and two together. Also House was the one administering her fertility treatments and he obviously knows they stopped - I think he deduced correctly that Cuddy didn't go to anyone else for them (the only other person she could maybe trust to give them is Wilson, and House would find that out). No baby + no more fertility treatments = his crack about the BC pills.

That makes sense. I do hope they'll explain it more, though. I would say that it was House's way of finding out what the status of her babymaking was - throw out a line and see how she reacts - except that he walked away without seeing how she reacted. What did everyone think about information that 13 is very scared of something? I thought she was afraid of being mirrored, but I guess time will tell. On rewatch I realized I'd misheard Foreman's line to Cameron, he clearly said "THIS job" when asking if Chase was jealous. Not the offer from 'Resignation'. And why would Chase be jealous? He's an attending now and Foreman's still a fellow! Is it just me or is there a disproportionate amount of east coast people on this board? We left-coasters are just digesting the episode and the rest of you are snug in your beds, no doubt. I'm in the Mountain time zone but watch it on the Newfoundland channel. It airs later that night on my local channel, so I can watch it twice! People are talking about the lightness of the ep. How about House's speech to Brennan? (And why are we calling him DWB?) In hindsight he was just manipulating him to keep him from quitting, but I heard truth there too. He doesn't hope to be happy, just to minimize his misery. I also found myself fixated on the fact that House mentioned suicide again... I predict that House will fire Brennan next, giving him an excuse to go back to his old life that he misses. I think it's cute that Cole and Thirteen (Hadley) are becoming friends, with their high-five at the end. Why does Cuddy agree to let herself be "mirrored" by the patient? She has nothing to win here, only to lose if she doesn't come out strongest, and she must have known that could happen. It kind of makes me believe in what someone else here said: it's her way to boost House's ego. I considered that, and I do think it's possible, but with so many other people watching was it really worth the humiliation to her? And wouldn't you expect a wink between her and Wilson at the end to show the audience that that's what it was? In the end it doesn't really matter, because I think we're supposed to believe that the patient couldn't be fooled. House is more powerful than Cuddy.

I think he did know. Remember his comments about her breasts "going in to the milking business" and even talking to her tummy? Despite her denials, House was insistent, and he is after all the man who can diagnose five patients in under a minute. I think he noticed the slight changes in her body and was able to tell when she was pregnant - later we saw her tell Wilson that she had been. And obviously she never had a baby so he put two and two together. Also House was the one administering her fertility treatments and he obviously knows they stopped - I think he deduced correctly that Cuddy didn't go to anyone else for them (the only other person she could maybe trust to give them is Wilson, and House would find that out). No baby + no more fertility treatments = his crack about the BC pills. Possibly. However, I believe that all of those "dairy" comments that House made were pre-"Fools for Love", yes? And during that time Cuddy adamently denied that she was pregnant. And then we saw her sighing over a (presumably) negative pee stick. So during that time that House was making all the comments, I don't think she actually was pregnant--House was just teasing her because he was in on her secret. (I assume the pee stick test was prior to her miscarriage if only because if she'd already had a miscarriage she would totally know what happened and wouldn't be checking a stick to begin with. And according to "Finding Judas" the miscarriage was the 3rd attempt, the first two not taking. So that leaves her miscarriage to take sometime between "Fools for Love" and "Finding Judas.") A few episodes later, House lets it slip to Cameron & Foreman that Cuddy is still looking for a sperm donor. So at that point, he knows that she still wants to get pregnant. After that, the next reference we have is Finding Judas where House is mean to her and she ends up telling Wilson the status of things: that House knows she's trying but that she hadn't shared with him the results of her efforts and the failures she'd had. House then knows that beyond using the turkey baster, Cuddy is actively trying for relationships and that she likes sex, possibly aiming for pregnancy the old fashioned way as well. After THAT, the next reference is "Fetal Position" where House thinks Cuddy is projecting onto the photographer woman. So at that point he knows she's still thinking about it and probably trying, wanting to keep that hope alive. And then....nothing. Until "Mirror Mirror." So I still don't see any evidence that makes me think House would determine Cuddy's back on birth control pills. Nor do I think he has seen in her any hint that she's given up. And why would she suddenly be interested in that kind of contraception, anyway? And even if she were on birth control pills, given all of Cuddy's failures, why would House assume she'd end up getting pregnant if he switched her pills out? (Obviously, the pill has other uses post-hormonal treatment, but that's a little far fetched to expect the audience to follow along with that completely off-screen development; in fact it would likely sail right over the heads of their prized young male demographic.) Unless, of course, it all happened off-screen. Which is entirely possible. Taiga--"DWB" = "Doctors Without Borders."

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